The MDV Awards originated in 1986 purely as an informal, in-house affair to thank various club members for their hard work throughout the year.
The idea then evolved to incorporate the whole of the Maltese Community and re-named the awards to reflect this change which took place in 1989. Since then the prestige of these awards has grown beyond our wildest dreams. Since 1991 the Prime Minister of Malta sent a recorded video taped message to be screened at the awards ceremony congratulating the winners and organisers. Furthermore the Maltese Prime Minister accepted our invitation to be the Patron of these Awards and now bear his signature. The 1995 awards were presented at the Victoria University St.Albans Campus Auditorium in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister of Malta and University and local dignitaries in front of an audience of 550. A far cry from our modest start in 1989. That also started a wonderful relationship with Victoria University and the 95-97 Awards were all hosted at that venue.
To date about 50 people have been presented with the MDV Award. These MDV Winners include Josephine Zammit Cordina and Mro Prof. Charles Camilleri (Malta), Barry York (A.C.T.), Lino Vella, Lawrence Dimech and Mark Caruana (NSW).
The presentation to Maltese radio personality, Josephine Zammit Cordina was also big news in Malta, and a lot of publicity ensured that the awards were also a household name in the home country.
In 1992, the Bank of Valletta Ltd became sole sponsors of this event and are still our major sponsors. Other local organisations and companies have also supported these awards from year to year.
The Manoel de Vilhena Awards are without doubt the jewel in the crown of achievements by Harmonic 65 Culture Club Inc. Through these awards we have established a good relationship with the Maltese government and with the Victoria University.